NJ FOOTBALL 2009: Nico Steriti of Toms River East is Ocean County Player of the Year

Nico Steriti of Toms River East is The Star-Ledger's Ocean County Player of the Year.

OCEAN COUNTY FOOTBALL SEASON IN REVIEW

Player of the year: Charlie Diskin knows football -- and the Toms River East coach knows football players.

He knows the great ones come along just once in a long, long while.

``In my 21 years of coaching, he's the most talented football player I've had the privilege to coach," said Diskin of his standout tailback/cornerback, Nico Steriti.``He's a special kind of player. A lot of fun to coach. He's very talented. Offensively, when he gets the ball in his hands, he can break it at any time."

On the season, Steriti found his way to the end zone 28 times for 168 points, which led the Shore Conference. The 6-0, 205-pounder with 4.45 speed gained 1,625 rushing yards and also caught 20 passes for 285 yards.

``Nico is blessed that he has great size and is very fast. He really dedicated himself in the off season to getting stronger. I've known him since pop Warner when he played with my son (quarterback Charlie Diskin Jr.),'' said the Toms River East coach.`"Nico always seemed ahead of everyone else. This year, instead of bouncing and running wide which he liked to do, he ran straight and lowered his shoulders. He's got great balance and tremendous vision. As running back, he really excelled."

He was also a fine defensive player at cornerback after playing safety as a junior. He wound up with five interceptions and ran one pick back for a school-record 102 yards.

``He did a good job on defense. He loved to make the big hit and run people over, " Diskin said.

Steriti has offers from New Hampshire and Maine, but Diskin thinks a Division 1 college will soon come calling.

``I don't know what they're waiting for. His dream has always been to play at the Division 1 level. Nico raised the level of play with the teammates around him. We never wanted the season to end."

Team of the year: Toms River East matched the best season in the school's history, having also gone 10-1 in 2006. Toms River East lost to Egg Harbor in the South Jersey, Group 4 state playoff semifinals and finished ranked No. 14 in The Star-Ledger Top 20.

Coach Charlie Diskin will never forget this group.

``We did something different this year. We had a team camp in August at Albright College (Reading, Pa.) and it made for great team chemistry and closeness. This was a special group. But they beat to a different drum, they were very loose, but very focused come game time. They always came to play."

Defensive coach Carl Holbig was given the chore of installing a new defense and the result was a No. 5 ranking in the Shore Conference. Among the unsung heroes were linebackers Jimmy Laconti, Jake Palmer, Tommy Brutofsky and Erik Rokisky and linemen Jimmy Smith and Ryan Rutter.

The offense was sparked by All-State back Nico Steriti, who recorded 1,1625 yards rushing and 28 TDs. He rreceived plent yof help from linemen Steffen Gonzalez, Jesse Sherman, John Clark, Robert Deppe and Matt Cornier, halfback Mario Steriti, Nico's sophomore brother, and senior quarterback Charlie Diskin Jr., the son of the coach.

``I'm very proud of my son. He showed poised despite having to listen to me all season," coach Diskin said.

Coach of the year: In the first two seasons of Jackson Liberty's relatively new varsity new program, a two-victory season was the high-water mark. This year, coach Tim Osborn guided the Ocean County upstarts to commendable 5-5 record.

Victories came over Lakewood, Barnegat, Central Regional, Manchester Township and Allentown. Even more impressively were some of the losses, such as 10-7 to an 8-2 Wall team and 20-3 to 7-4 Neptune in a game that was close to the wire.

Game of the year: Surprisingly, it's not Toms River East's year-ending victory over rival Toms River North that pretty much settled all Ocean County bragging rights. It's Toms River East's 14-7 victory over Lacey in Week Two that coach Charlie Diskin chose as the most important triumph of the season.

``That was the key win for our season and for our division (Constitution) was beating Lacey. It was a tight game and we were down (7-0) in the third quarter, but we didn't panic. We responded and took the lead and carried that feeling throughout the season," Diskin said. ``Whenever we got to a point where it was close or we needed to do something, in the back of the kids' minds they knew they could respond because they had done it in that game."

Brick Memorial's startling run: Not many gave sixth-seeded Brick Memorial a chance at winning the Central Jersey, Group 4 playoff state title for a second straight year, but things snowballed once it defeated third-seeded Hunterdon Central, 21-17, in the first round.

Then it pulled the improbable by upsetting second-seeded Howell, 37-34, in the semifinals with a big fourth-quarter rally. In both games, Brick Memorial, led by quarterback Mike DiGuilmi, scored the winning touchdown in the final 20 seconds. A heavy snowfall in the sectional final at The College of New Jersey in Ewing blunted the team's flexbone attack as Brick Memorial fell to East Brunswick, 9-0.